Press Release
Foggy Mornings Photography by Martin Hoffmann Is Granted the Bronze A' Design Award in Photography and Photo Manipulation Design
Martin Hoffmann honored for photography and photo manipulation design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Photography and Photo Manipulation Design category for Foggy Mornings Photography by Martin Hoffmann, designed for Hoffmann Design. The recognition forms part of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the Bronze A' Design Award Means
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Foggy Mornings Photography
The photo series Foggy Mornings explores the seemingly unattractive and depressive qualities of a dark season dominated by omnipresent grey. Through a deliberate confrontation with fog covered, often low contrast scenery, the project develops a calm and atmospheric aesthetic. Reduced light, subtle colour nuances and clear composition transform supposedly unappealing motifs into poetic visual spaces, opening up a new, reconciliatory perception of the surroundings. Each image tells a story while leaving room for personal reflection.
About Martin Hoffmann
Creative standards, good ideas, willingness to perform and motivation as well as high design and technical quality are the benchmark for him creating first-class professional solutions for the customer. Let’s say he puts his heart and soul into every project. An order is more than the pure implementation of a requirements profile. It is the intellectual and visual examination of the topics, the solution of problems, sometimes the facilitation of the almost impossible. For a free spirit, there can also be discussions if your own conviction favors something else. The aim is to achieve the optimum and to exceed his customer's expectations.
Award Record
With this recognition, Martin Hoffmann is a winner of 3 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2023 - 2024 and the 2025 - 2026 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Photography and Photo Manipulation Design Award
The A' Photography Design Award is an international photography competition recognizing good photographic creations by best photographers worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to photographers, photojournalists, advertising agencies and digital artists from all countries. Typical entries include portraits, landscapes, still lifes, photojournalism, fashion shots and architectural images. The awarded photography designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/photography
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/181722
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/181722
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!181722
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/343615
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://mhoffmann-design.de
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Foggy Mornings Photography
- Function
- Photography
- Category
- Photography and Photo Manipulation Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Arts and Entertainment
- Colors
- Linen, Gray, Rosy Brown, Light Gray and Dim Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Hoffmann Design
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Martin Hoffmann
- Country
- Germany
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #181722
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photographer Martin Hoffmann, A Morning in Minor Key, 2026
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The photo series develops a new perspective on dark, overcast winter weather in a fog-prone region by deliberately placing the seemingly dull, grey and formless at the center of attention. Through reduced motifs and subtle visual moods, a calm, atmospheric aesthetic emerges that invites an inner reconciliation with the grey days. The photographic approach connects external landscape and inner emotional states, opening up new, more contemplative ways of seeing.
- Inspiration
- The inspiration arose from consciously engaging with a deeply foggy, grey season in order to discover new perspectives. The starting point was the creative challenge of transforming low-contrast, seemingly unphotogenic motifs into their own visual presence. The inherent reduction of light and colour lends itself to motifs with pastel nuances, compositions with contrasting tones and certain details. The quiet tranquillity of the scenery is brought out and a subtle beauty is revealed.
- Research
- The design research examines how expressive photographs can be created despite fog. The aim is to enable a new and more nuanced experience of a scene that is often perceived as dreary. Methodology: Careful observation, conscious choice of perspective, location, light and contrasts, as well as targeted, sensitive post-processing result in calm, atmospheric images. The result shows how adverse conditions can be used to achieve appealing results that can change one's own perceptions through their sensitive presentation.
- Challenge
- The challenge lay in the external conditions: diffuse light, low contrast and a gloomy atmosphere make it difficult to render subjects as they are perceived. Secondly, viewers tend to be more interested in images that do not necessarily depict grey, foggy conditions and gloomy days. This required a very sensitive perception of subjects, nuances, details and image sections. In post-processing, it was crucial to carefully add appeal to the grey areas with the finest colour nuances.
- Realization and Technology
- The photographs were taken during specific photo tours on various foggy winter mornings in the Ulm and Neu-Ulm region. Camera: Leica Q3, fixed lens Summilux 1:1.7/28 mm, post-processing with Adobe Lightroom (corrections, presets) and Photoshop if necessary.
- Operation and Interaction
- The photos are intended as part of a picture book with impressions and snapshots as an exploration of and declaration of love for this region. The photographs convey scenes, characteristics or moods that are typical of this area. In their normality, perhaps also unusual for others. In this case, the seasonally dominant theme of fog is depicted in nuanced and not unpleasant photographs. Each image tells a story and, at the same time, allows room for personal feelings.
- Project Duration and Location
- The initial ideas for this project emerged in November 2025. In January and February 2026, the photographs were taken at various locations in Ulm and Neu-Ulm, Germany.
- Specifications
- The photographs currently exist in digital form as raw DNG and jpg files. 9520 x 6336 px at 300 dpi, RGB in DNG format (Display P3) and in jpg format (sRGB IEC61966-2.1). The resolution of 60 megapixels allows for a wide range of further applications. Wall pictures in approx. 40 x 40 cm format. As part of a photo book in DIN A4 210 x 297 mm or 210 x 210 mm format.
- Keywords
- Photography, foggy scenes, colour nuances, contrast levels, dynamic range, moments of tranquillity, sensitivity, aesthetics, morning atmosphere
